Anne Marie Eugenie was born in 1817 in Metz after Napoleon’s complete defeat and
the restoration of the Monarchy. She belonged to a non-believing and
financially comfortable family and it seemed unlikely that she would trace a new
spiritual path across the Church of France.

Her father, follower of Voltaire and a liberal, was making his fortune in the
banking world and in politics. Eugenie’s mother provided the sensitive Eugenie
with an education, which strengthened her character and gave her a strong sense
of duty. Family life developed her intellectual curiosity and a romantic
spirit, an interest in social questions and a broad world view.

Like her contemporary, George Sand, Anne Eugenie went to Mass on feast days and
received the Sacraments of initiation, as was the custom but without any real
commitment. However, her First Communion was a great mystical experience that
foretold the secret of her future. She did not grasp its prophetic meaning
until much later when she recognized it as her path towards total belonging to
Jesus Christ and the Church.

Her youth was happy but not without suffering. She was affected when still a
child by the death of an elder brother and a baby sister. Her health was
delicate and a fall from a horse left serious consequences. Eugenie was mature
for her age and learnt how to hide her feelings and to face up to events.
Later, after a prosperous period for her father, she experienced the failure of
his banks, the misunderstanding and eventual separation of her parents and the
loss of all security. She had to leave her family home and go to Paris while
Louis, closest to her in age and faithful companion went to live with their
father. Eugenie went to Paris with the mother she adored, only to see her die
from cholera after a few hours of illness, leaving her alone at the age of
fifteen in a society that was worldly and superficial. Searching in anguish and
almost desperate for the truth, she arrived at her conversion thirsty for the
Absolute and open to the Transcendent.

When she was nineteen, Anne Eugenie attended the Lenten Conferences at Notre
Dame in Paris, preached by the young Abbe Lacordaire, already well-known for his
talent as orator. Lacordaire was a former disciple of Lamennais ­– haunted by
the vision of a renewed Church with a special place in the world. He understood
his time and wanted to change it. He understood young people, their questions
and their desires, their idealism and their ignorance of both Christ and the
Church. His words touched Eugenie’s heart, answered her many questions, and
aroused her generosity. Eugenie envisaged Christ as the universal liberator and
his kingdom on earth established as a peaceful and just society. I was truly
converted, she wrote, and I was seized by a longing to devote all my
strength or rather all my weakness to the Church which, from that moment, I saw
as alone holding the key to the knowledge and achievement of all that is good.

Just at this time, another preacher, also a former disciple of Lamennais,
appeared on the scene. In the confessional, Father Combalot recognized that he
had encountered a chosen soul who was designated to be the foundress of the
Congregation he had dreamt of for a long time. He persuaded Eugenie to
undertake his work by insisting that this Congregation was willed by God who had
chosen her to establish it. He convinced her that only by education could she
evangelize minds, make families truly Christian and thus transform the society
of her time. Anne Eugenie accepted the project as God’s will for her and
allowed herself to be guided by the Abbe Combalot.

At twenty-two, Marie Eugenie became foundress of the Religious of the
Assumption, dedicated to consecrate their whole life and strength to extending
the Kingdom of Christ in themselves and in the world. In 1839, Mademoiselle
Eugenie Milleret, with two other young women, began a life of prayer and study
in a flat at rue Ferou near the church of St. Sulpice in Paris. In 1841, under
the patronage of Madame de Chateaubriand, Lacordaire, Montalembert and their
friends, the sisters opened their first school. In a relatively short time
there were sixteen sisters of four nationalities in the community.

Marie Eugenie and the first sisters wanted to link the ancient and the new – to
unite the past treasures of the Church’s spirituality and wisdom with a type of
religious life and education able to satisfy the demands of modern minds. It
was a matter of respecting the values of the period and at the same time, making
the Gospel values penetrate the rising culture of a new industrial and
scientific era. The spirituality of the Congregation, centered on Christ and
the Incarnation, was both deeply contemplative and dedicated to apostolic
action. It was a life given to the search for God and the love and service of
others.

Marie Eugenie’s long life covered almost the whole of the 19th
century. She loved her times passionately and took an active part in their
history. Progressively, she channeled all her energy and gifts in tending and
extending the Congregation, which became her life work. God gave her sisters
and many friends. One of the first sisters was Irish, a mystic and her intimate
friend whom she called at the end of her life, “half of myself.” Kate O’Neill,
called Mother Therese Emmanuel in religion, is considered as a co-foundress.
Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, became Marie Eugenie’s spiritual director soon after
the foundation, was a father, brother or friend according to the seasons. In
1845, he founded the Augustinians of the Assumption and the two founders helped
each other in a multitude of ways over a period of forty years. Both had a gift
for friendship and they inspired many lay people to work with them and the
Church. Together, as they followed Christ and labored with him, the religious
and laity traced the path of the Assumption and took their place in the great
cloud of witnesses.

In the last years of her life, Mother Marie Eugenie experienced a progressive
physical weakening, which she lived in silence and humility – a life totally
centered on Christ. She received the Eucharist for the last time on March 9,
1898 and on the 10th, she gently passed over to the Lord. She was
beatified by Pope Paul VI on February 9, 1975 in Rome.

Today, the Religious of the Assumption are present in 34 countries – 8 in
Europe, 5 in Asia, 10 in America and 11 in Africa. Almost 1,200 sisters form
170 communities throughout the world.

The Lay Assumption – Assumption Together – made up of Friends of the Assumption
and Communities or Fraternities of the Assumption, are numerous: thousands of
Friends and hundreds of Lay Assumption committed to live according to the Way of
Life.